Letter from Charles Sheldon to Dr. C. Hart Merriam

Charles Sheldon 8 \7est 9th Street New York, N. Y.
Jan. 15, 1914
Dear Dr. Merriam:
I do not know of any Admiralty skulls. The skull of Shiras* bear may e very surprising, but if Shiras1 measurements of the bear are correct, it certainly is not a "monster”. I saw him a couple of days ago and he told me that this bear measured some inches under seven feet includine- tail. One is not likely t)o under-measure a bear and if Shiras is correct, in spite of the size of the skull, the body of the bear cannot be larger in length at least, than many mature male griz­zlies. The color, as he describes it, is interesting, but I have lost confidence in the color of these bears as a distingushing character o: great importance. The 'variation is very great. Hasselborg has seen so many of thdse Admiralty bears that I should think his comments on it m'ght be interesting.
I am somewhat worried about Nelson and hope he is picking up. I should like to know what you think of the color of Shiras1 bear. He says it is coal black. Then I saw bears on Admiralty all appeared darker than the average grizzly. I had thought that this was a character of "Sulophus".
Sincerely,
(signed) C. Sheldon
Boone and Crockett Club Records (Mss 738), Archives and Special Collections. Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library. University of Montana-Missoula.

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Transcript

Charles Sheldon 8 \7est 9th Street New York, N. Y.
Jan. 15, 1914
Dear Dr. Merriam:
I do not know of any Admiralty skulls. The skull of Shiras* bear may e very surprising, but if Shiras1 measurements of the bear are correct, it certainly is not a "monster”. I saw him a couple of days ago and he told me that this bear measured some inches under seven feet includine- tail. One is not likely t)o under-measure a bear and if Shiras is correct, in spite of the size of the skull, the body of the bear cannot be larger in length at least, than many mature male griz­zlies. The color, as he describes it, is interesting, but I have lost confidence in the color of these bears as a distingushing character o: great importance. The 'variation is very great. Hasselborg has seen so many of thdse Admiralty bears that I should think his comments on it m'ght be interesting.
I am somewhat worried about Nelson and hope he is picking up. I should like to know what you think of the color of Shiras1 bear. He says it is coal black. Then I saw bears on Admiralty all appeared darker than the average grizzly. I had thought that this was a character of "Sulophus".
Sincerely,
(signed) C. Sheldon
Boone and Crockett Club Records (Mss 738), Archives and Special Collections. Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library. University of Montana-Missoula.